


Real Soldiers

by belana



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-18
Updated: 2013-09-18
Packaged: 2017-12-26 23:02:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/971318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/belana/pseuds/belana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>written for a prompt: Marshall Pentecost & Mako Mori, the giant scary Marshall raising a tiny Japanese girl. Father-daughter relationship</p>
            </blockquote>





	Real Soldiers

**Author's Note:**

> Translation of a fic written by H.Z. in Russian

Mako doesn't cry these says, not when she's grazed her knee, not during a visit to a dentist, not when she's lost a brand new book, not when the boys in her new school call her a "chink". As if she cried out all her tears for the next twenty years on that wrecked street.

When Stacker cleans the scratch on his charge's knee and then swipes it with generous amount of antiseptic Mako only flinches - with her whole body - bites her lip in a very unchild-like manner and stays quiet. She stands there completely dry-eyed.

"That’s my girl," he mumbles approvingly, actually relieved that the waterworks never happened. "You're a real soldier!"

Mako smiles thinly.

 

* * *

 

She lost her whole family that summer day. Mother, father, younger brother were buried under the ruins of that mall which all of them visited during a weekend. In one of the few suburbs still standing Stacker found a relative of the girl, some sort of forty-second cousin to her grandmother (he keeps forgetting the exact relationship between the two), and the woman takes the girl when the Headquarters send him on a new mission of top priority. That granny is well over sixty, and when she goes to meet her maker Mako will be all alone in the world. Except for him.

 

* * *

 

Stacker's always thought that he'd have a son. Maybe several sons. Robust lads who'd need dressing down for failed assignments at school, needed to be taught how to fight properly. Boys with whom Stacker could play basketball in the front yard and spent weekends out of town flying kites, when the children grew older they could have jokingly discussed girls. The universe decided otherwise, let hungry Kaijus run free and sent him a daughter.

During the day Mako is as cool as ice, but she cries in the middle of the night. She's sobbing and shaking so violently it's a wonder she doesn't wake up on her own. Alarmed Stacker runs in from the other room and can't shake the nightmares off.

"It's alright, Mako, everything is fine, baby, wake up, I'm here, I won't let anyone hurt you," he chants to no avail. He can't get through to her until the nightmares unclaw their little prey.

Finally Mako returns to her senses and cries out the rest of it into his shoulder.

 _Oh god_ , Stacker thinks rocking her - tiny, wet from tears and sweat, _that's not fair, oh god._

His t-shirt is soaking wet like he walked though a storm.

 

* * *

 

Stacker teaches the basics of racial tolerance to those two boys from her school simply by boxing their ears. Later he explains to the outraged parents he sees little sense in fighting Kaijus if they raise such boors.

For her heroic behavior at the dentist's Mako gets the largest teddy bear Stacker could find in the toy store.

Mako smiles, Mako laughs - and keeps crying at night. There's nothing to be done about it, Stacker himself almost sobs at his despair, but he's a fighter, a protector and almost a father. So he keeps dealing with the irreparable damage the only way he can: he gets inside a giant tin can and beats the shit out of the monsters so there will be no more girls like Mako.

 

* * *

 

Then his girl catches some sort of tricky infection and has extremely high fever, and Stacker takes a personal day off for the first time in his career. Well, more like he wrestles it out of his superiors. It feels like fighting Kaiju off is easier than getting a day off from a boss who is not inclined to let you go. For his girl he manages to secure seventy-two hours leave, though. During those three days he sleeps ten hours at most. Later all the moms in the neighborhood he kept bugging about the meds smile at him friendlier than usual.

 

* * *

 

One day Mako brings home extremely dirty and stinking white kitten.

"Darling, where did you find it?" Stacker asks. He's not really angry, he's only afraid that she actually dug it out. Although there are no old Indian cemeteries in the suburbs of Luntao where they live now. They manage to clean the kitten, and for a couple of years Mr. Khan purrs when Mako holds him and pisses into Stacker's shoes.

He runs away during one of the relocations.

 

* * *

 

Stacker learns basic algebra, biology and Japanese with Mako.

Then she falls in love for the first time.

Days go by turning into years.

 

* * *

 

After the graduation she turns up on his room's doorstep and announces solemnly, but barely containing her excitement, "Sensei, I applied to the Academy. And I was accepted."

Mako never calls him father, and Stacker's fine with being sensei. It's just words. The only thing that matters the most is right here, standing in front of him her black eyes shining happily.

Stacker hugs her so tightly that it feels like her bones would brake and is proud of her like a father. He could've said: dearest, why the Academy, you need to think about the future, choose a normal field of work worthy of such a smart girl, but he didn't. Because most likely there is no future, the only constant thing around them is eternal sunshine of an endless disaster (another advantage of learning Japanese is the opportunity to exercise the poetic muscle). No one knows how long the _Titanic_ of the human kind will be afloat, and her choice is the only right thing to do.

Mako understands all of this. She's his girl, after all. His daughter.

"That's my girl," Stacker - Marshal Pentecost - says and kisses the top of her head. "You're a real soldier."


End file.
